6. 5. Statement: Superfast Broadband — The Next Steps

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:39 pm on 8 November 2016.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 4:39, 8 November 2016

What we’re going to do in the next stage is that we’re working on the specifications right now, in terms of whether we’re going to have priority areas, whether there are going to be geographical priorities and so on. As I said, I anticipate that we will probably let a series of batched contracts really—although please accept that I’m not in a position to say so categorically at this stage—but with a view to stimulating SME markets, to stimulating small local companies, for example, and so on. In that way, also, we can target a number of priority groups at the same time rather than having a single roll-out. Bear in mind that this will also be on a premises-by-premises basis. We’ll actually know which house, rather than which post code area, that we’re talking about. So, we will be able to do some things individually that we aren’t able to do with the current contract. As we do that piece of work and as we become aware of it, I’ll make sure that the Assembly’s updated accordingly.